Presentation made at the first European conference on social networks, Barcelona, July 1-4 2014. Co-authors: Marta Severo and Hugues Pecout.

1. Do International News Reect World Structure?
A Network Approach
Laurent Beauguitte, Marta Severo Hugues Pecout
ANR Geomedia
http://geomedia.hypotheses.org/
July 2014
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 1 / 16

2. 1 Hypotheses, data methods
2 Main (networked) results
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 2 / 16

3. Hypotheses, data methods
Main hypothesis
RSS ows are a good proxy of international news
International news reect world political structure
International news depend on both the type of newspapers and its
nationality
Network approach can provide valuable inputs
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 3 / 16

4. Hypotheses, data methods
Data
2 months of RSS items regarding international news (Jan.-Feb. 2014)
2 French newspapers
2 Australian newspapers
2 reference newspapers 2 popular newspapers
The Australian : 1160 items
The Daily Telegraph : 1103 items
Le Figaro : 608 items
Le Parisien : 643 items
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 4 / 16

5. Hypotheses, data methods
Methodology
States occurrences : considered as a proxy of world hierarchy
Which are the most quoted ? the less quoted ?
Link between number of quotations and power ?
States co-occurences : considered as a proxy of world structures
Are they some universal states' diads ?
Is it possible to distinguish between cooperation conict relations ?
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 5 / 16

7. Hypotheses, data methods
From RSS item...to co-citation network...
RSS item : code, title, description, link, date, hour - and sometimes
category (key words), author etc.
39898 Abe's war shrine visit stokes tensions ; JAPANESE PM Shinzo Abe
has visited a controversial war shrine in a move that has further inamed
already tense relations with China and South Korea. 26/12/13 08 :37
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 7 / 16

8. Hypotheses, data methods
...to co-citation network
39898 Abe's war shrine visit stokes tensions ; JAPANESE PM Shinzo Abe
has visited a controversial war shrine in a move that has further inamed
already tense relations with China and South Korea. 26/12/13 08 :37
Tag dictionary regarding states (name, adjective, main leaders) and R
routine (ISO3-code)
39898 CHN - JPN
39898 CHN - KOR
39898 JPN - KOR
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 8 / 16

9. Main (networked) results
International news is rstly national news
Greater similarities regarding nationality than type of newspapers
Once neutralised the national bias, world remains dierent - but small
sample of newspapers. . .
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 9 / 16

10. Main (networked) results
A dierential world hierarchy
4 newspapers : 6 to 7 states = 50% of all states occurrences
The Australian The Daily Tel. Le Figaro Le Parisien
USA 19 USA 24 France 13 France 17.43
Syria 7.5 UK 9.7 USA 11.47 USA 11.48
UK 6.61 Australia 6.2 Centrafrique 6.43 Centrafrique 7.16
France 5.06 Russia 4 Ukraine 6.43 Ukraine 6.62
Russia 4.77 China 3.75 UK 5.03 Russia 6.48
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 10 / 16

11. Main (networked) results
Nationality stronger than type of journal
Correlation between journal - states occurrences
The Daily Tel. Le Figaro Le Parisien
The Australian 0.90 0.69 0.59
The Daily Tel. - 0.61 0.57
Le Figaro - - 0.92
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 11 / 16

12. National bias in Australian newspapers

13. A much stronger national bias in French newspapers

14. Co-occurrence network The Daily Telegraph minus Australia

15. Co-occurrence network Le Parisien minus France

16. Main (networked) results
Back to hypothesis
Main hypothesis
RSS ows are a good proxy of international news : yes but they skip
hierarchy of news
International news reect world political structure : can reect hierarchy
but not relations
International news depend on both the type of newspapers and its
nationality : a bigger sample is needed but nationality seems dominant
Network approach can provide valuable inputs : co-occurence is too hard to
interpret, so not with this approach. . .
L. Beauguitte, M. Severo and H. Pecout (ANR Geomedia)Networks of international news July 2014 16 / 16